Confirmation: Local Natives = epic live

As effing sick as these raw vids from SXSW are, it only makes me sad...sad that I didnt get tickets to their May 8th show at Great Scott in Allston! Epic fail Steve. Never did I expect a group of musicians huddled together surrounded by beat up junk cars and dying trees to sound so good! I guess I'll just live vicariously through gem vids such as these (thank you Pitchfork...again) and pray they come back to the 'beautiful' North East soon! 

Show Review: New Found Glory with Saves The Day - Boston, MA

Sunday night, House of Blues, Boston.  Jam packed with what seemed to be only 16 - 21 year olds...plus 25 yr old me.  Vans shoes, skinny jeans, and stupid swoop haircuts galore.  However, I'm not here to rip apart the emo/pop punk sub-culture of today.  I'm posting to provide my take on two bands in particular who are both responsible for contributing to the soundtrack of my youth (aka the good old days).  Those bands of course being Saves The Day & New Found Glory.  

Saves the Day played first.  I was jacked up on the dieselest sized Red Bull (splash of vodka) and memories of blasting Can't Slow Down and Through Being Cool every day in high school.  I previewed their setlist and it was legit so I knew this was going to be sick.  They took the stage and I immediately had some issues.  You see, STD has undergone numerous band member updates over the years, and with each restructure, I cringe a bit.  This was the worst.  There is now only one original member of Saves the Day remaining; singer/guitairst Chris Conley.  I will hand it to the foursome though.  They sounded great! If you closed your eyes you wouldn't be able to tell if you were listening to the new lineup or the original 5 piece from back in the day.  However, they definitely could have been louder, and the crowd seemed to not give a shit about them.  Everyone was just standing, emotionless.  Clearly all there for the headliner; NFG.  I was bummed out a bit.  It just lacked the feel of originality and everything I love/loved about this band.  I made the comment "it's like a Saves the Day cover band featuring Chris Conley.  Anyhow, I'm glad I saw them.  Excellent set list (great mix of old shit and new).

(as I saw them last night

...and how I remember them)

Some of my favorites

Saves The Day

Make way for NFG.  I have to admit.  I reverted to 16 year old Steve for thier set.  New Found Glory played their self titled album in its entirety from start to finish. So sick. This record was adolescent gold back in high school. Clearly I'm going to lose my cool and jump around like a moron with the youngsters. They sounded great. Loud, fast, energetic; everything that makes GOOD pop punk so fun. Plus the members of the band are actually older than I am so I didn't feel like that big a douche. Anyhow, I didn't care about all that when I was in the thick of it. No, the embarrassment set in much later on the train ride home, where I found myself surrounded by sweaty inarticulate teenagers (who were just as sweaty as I mind you).

New Found Glory - 10th Anniver...

So, overall it was a great show. Saves the Day = 6.8 and NFG = 9.0.  Time machine shows are always good...so long as I can get over the whole "I'm an old dude who shouldn't be here" feeling they so inevitably emote.

Review: The Who's Half-Time Show

So am I the only one that thought The Who's half-time performance last night was really good? A lot of reviews I'm reading/hearing are extremely anti. However, it seems to be a generational thing. Older fans are making comments like "they're fossils" or "when I was a kid, The Who were actually sweet live" and "last night was just sad"...blah blah, shit like that. Well, I've had the chance to see The Who live at the Virgin Music Festival in Baltimore back in 2006, and it was phenomenal! Last night's performance reminded me of that experience, so maybe I was biased. Either way, I would like to think or at least hope that kids my age respected last night's performance; the way it sounded (tight) and the way it looked (enough f-ing lazers?!). I don't know. I was drunk, full, and stoked the Saints were only down 4 points at the half. Plus I absolutely love The Who. So even if the world disagrees, I still gave last night's show two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

::Setlist::
Pinball Wizard
Baba O'Riley
Who Are You
We're Not Gonna Take It!
Won't Get Fooled Again

I think this is what everyone was hoping to see last night --- Skip to 1:50.

This Week's Noteworthy Shows - Boston, MA

-Wednesday 6 January 2010- 
Passion Pit - with Magic Magic and The Dirty Dishes  - House of Blues - Boston, MA

-Friday 8 January 2010-
Julian Casablancas  - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA

-Saturday 9 January 2010-
"Hot Stove Cool Music" - State Radio, The Low Anthem, Tinted Windows, Bronson Arroyo, Bill Janovitz, Peter Gammons, Theo Epstein, Ken Casey and MC- Mike O'Malley  - House of Blues - Boston, MA

This Week's Noteworthy Shows - Boston, MA

-Thursday 17 December 2009-
Raekwon - with Capone and Noreaga, Queen Yonasda - Paradise Rock Club
Fanfarlo - with Freelance Whales and The Painted Lights  -  T.T. the Bear's Place

-Friday 18 December 2009-
stellastarr* - with The Postelles and The Daily Pravda - Paradise Rock Club

-Saturday 19 December 2009-
Thursday - with The Dillinger Escape Plan, Fake Problems and Endless Hallway- The Middle East Downstairs